Server-Side Tracking and Cookieless Tracking
Constantly evolving data privacy requirements pose major challenges for many companies. Yet without collecting data, it is impossible to evaluate or improve the effectiveness of marketing activities. Stricter regulations—most recently the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)—have made this task increasingly difficult.
As a data-driven digital agency, Ruess Group supports you in complying with all data protection requirements. At the same time, we enable you to comprehensively analyze user behavior across your company’s websites and apps. After all, you can only optimize your customer journey and marketing funnel if you have access to the right data.
That’s why we rely on server-side tracking. For your business, this means a flexible, future-proof solution for web analytics and data-driven marketing.
Your Contact for Server-Side Tracking
Server-Side Tracking: Analyze User Data While Ensuring Compliance with Data Protection Regulations
Most companies analyze user behavior on their websites and apps with tools such as Google Analytics. In this process, personal data is usually collected through cookies or JavaScript directly in the user’s browser and can be evaluated in real time.
The downside: user data is not collected by the website operator, but by third parties. This makes client-side tracking problematic in terms of GDPR compliance. In addition, ad blockers and browser settings often prevent data from being collected at all. In many cases, this affects more than half of all users. As a result, no data is forwarded to Google Analytics, and companies receive a distorted picture of the number and behavior of their website visitors—making it impossible to effectively optimize the customer journey.
With cookieless tracking, we solve these problems.
What Is Server-Side Tracking?
With server-side tracking, user data is not collected on the user’s device but first on your company’s server. From there, the collected data is forwarded to an analytics or marketing tool for evaluation. Cookieless tracking offers your business a range of advantages:
- Independent of Ad Blockers: Server-side tracking enables cookieless tracking unaffected by ad blockers or browser restrictions.
- Better Website Performance: Since no scripts or pixels need to be loaded in the browser, server-side tracking improves your website’s loading times.
- More Reliable Data: You have full control over which data is collected and analyzed. Our clients typically capture significantly more data through server-side tracking.
- Enhanced Data Security: Ensure that user data is not shared with third parties, that only relevant data is collected, and that all data is encrypted on the server. This guarantees compliance with data protection regulations and makes your tracking future-proof.
Who Benefits from Cookieless Tracking?
- Online Marketing: Reliably track conversions and gain insights into the customer journey without interference from ad blockers.
- E-Commerce & Online Shops: Maintain full control over which data is collected while gathering detailed insights into customer purchasing behavior.
- App Tracking: Benefit from improved integration with CRM systems, enabling more precise analysis of app usage data.
- Cross-Device Tracking: Track customer journeys seamlessly across laptops, smartphones, and tablets with server-side tracking.
Do any of these use cases apply to your business? As a digital agency, we offer a full-service package for implementing server-side tracking—and we’d be glad to discuss your specific needs in a personal consultation.
Our Approach: How We Implement Server-Side Tracking for Our Clients
As a digital agency, we implement server-side and cookieless tracking into your websites, apps, or online shops so that you can collect exactly the data you need—fully compliant with data protection regulations.
- Analysis & Planning: Define specific requirements and goals. Which data should be collected on your website?
- Technical Implementation: Set up the server-side infrastructure, e.g., using Google Tag Manager Server Side, and configure cloud hosting services.
- Testing & Monitoring: Ensure all data is collected and forwarded correctly. After implementation, we carry out extensive testing to guarantee data quality and functionality.
- Continuous Optimization: Regular reviews and optimizations keep your tracking setup up to date with technology and data protection requirements.
Technical Requirements for Server-Side Tracking
There are several technical aspects that make server-side tracking more complex:
- Tag Manager & Hosting: We typically use Google Tag Manager Server Side and host the server in Google Cloud for fast and efficient data processing.
- Data Sources: APIs play a key role, ensuring seamless integration with CRM systems and databases.
- Data Layer & Consent Management: A well-structured data layer and proper integration with your Consent Management Platform (CMP) are crucial for effective and compliant tracking.
Because of its technical complexity, server-side tracking requires specialized expertise in cloud hosting and data processing. While it’s the ideal solution for GDPR-compliant tracking, every aspect of consent management must be carefully implemented.
Server-Side and Cookieless Tracking: The Future of Web Analytics
Server-side tracking is more future-proof than relying on cookies, JavaScript, or browser pixels to collect user data. Companies that adopt server-side or cookieless tracking not only ensure compliance with data protection laws but also gain long-term benefits: greater security and the ability to collect more comprehensive data.
Server-side tracking provides a privacy-friendly and precise method of capturing and analyzing user data. This future-proofs your web analytics, enabling you to make data-driven decisions and successfully implement marketing strategies.
Your Contact for Server-Side Tracking